SALT LAKE CITY -- An animal-rights group planning to protest mink farming
in Morgan has filed suit claiming the Utah Department of Transportation's
permit process tramples their right to free speech.

UDOT is requiring the
Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement to buy a $1 million liability insurance
policy and pay for an off-duty highway patrol trooper to act as security at
its planned Nov. 28 protest in Morgan.

"Free speech is supposed to be
free," Colleen Hatfield, SLAAM director, said in a news release.

"When
UDOT or any other government agency fixes a price tag on the right to
assemble in a public forum, they inevitably exclude voices from the
marketplace of ideas and deny people rights guaranteed them in the
Constitution."